Main Avenue group willing to sue over possible street closure

H-E-B has put in a request to close this stretch of South Main Avenue. BOB OWEN / EXPRESS-NEWS

The Main Access Coalition, the group opposed to H-E-B’s request to close a block of Main Avenue next to the company’s headquarters, says it is willing to take the matter to court.

“We have a lot of possibilities in front of us,” said Charlotte Luongo, co-founder of Main Access Coalition, which is being lead by some King William residents.

The group’s keeping litigation as an option, should it reach that point. There’s also the question of whether Main Access Coalition has the financial means to do so.

The fight to keep Main Avenue open, between South Arsenal Street and East Cesar E. Chávez Boulevard, remains in wait-and-see mode. The city of San Antonio is still reviewing H-E-B’s proposal, which calls for the block of Main to be permanently closed to all traffic.

The closure would allow it to consolidate property it owns on both sides of Main into a kind of mega parcel. H-E-B says it would then deliver a downtown grocery store, on the corner of Flores Street and Chavez Boulevard, and ultimately expand its campus from within.

The city’s Planning Commission and City Council are likely to presented with some kind of proposal in early December, Lori Houston, director of the city’s Center City Development Office, told the Express-News last week.

Mayor Julián Castro told this blog last week that he’s leaning in favor of H-E-B’s plans.

“From what I’ve seen, I like it,” Castro said. “It’s a tremendous investment in jobs and new opportunity in the urban core of the city. It includes a downtown grocery store, which I believe will act as a major catalyst for new investment and residences. I look forward to touching base with the folks who have expressed concern about the street closure. … I like what I’ve seen so far.”

H-E-B also plans on doubling its corporate workforce in the next few decades, and build along property it owns on South Flores, including a test kitchen.

The overall investment in the area is priced at $100 million.

Last week, the coalition pointed to a deed restriction, which dates back to 1948, which it says prohibits the street’s closure for private use. (Click here for a copy of the deed.) It was then that the federal government ceded the road over to the city. In 1982, H-E-B purchased the property, the former U.S. arsenal.

Ultimately, it’s not a matter of city staff approving or denying H-E-B’s request. Assuming the street closure process  which includes canvassing potentially affected parties and a traffic study  is followed correctly, H-E-B’s proposal will be considered by the Planning Commission and ultimately City Council.

H-E-B has dismissed claims that the deed prohibits the closure.

“The deed and the accompanying city ordinance both recognize the city’s right to abandon the Main Avenue right-of-way, at any time in the future,” H-E-B said in a statement. “H-E-B and the City of San Antonio are aware of the deed, have reviewed it and have concluded that it does not prevent the City from closing Main Avenue.

“Because Main Avenue divided the Arsenal at that time, the U.S. government stipulated that the right-of-way would revert back to the grantor in the deed in the event that the city decided to close Main Avenue. It is our understanding that the grantor’s rights were acquired by H-E-B as a part of the Arsenal property when it was purchased in 1982.”

Luongo said her group is willing to compromise. She says leaving the block of Main Avenue available to cyclists and pedestrians is a truce it could support.

“We have many other solutions and ideas that we have brought up with H-E-B that we would like to talk to the city further about it,” Luongo said.

Luongo praised H-E-B and District 1 Councilman Diego Bernal for keeping the lines of communications open.

“We are not enemies of H-E-B,” Luongo said. “We just really think they are misguided in their current plans for their headquarters.”

Last week, an H-E-B spokeswoman spoke with the group as part of a broader public meeting. And this week, Bernal is scheduled to meet with the group, as well.